Starting build soon

[jeruw]

Placed orders for my parts last night and have been trying to figure out how to handle the 3d printing. All of the online services and even the local UPS store that has a printer all come in around $300. Ouch! I'm a member of the local maker space, and someone has recently taken over ownership of the 3d printing there. He's working on getting the printers up and running again and calibrated. I've offered to help out were I can. So hopefully I can get in there this week and perhaps start working on the prints.

I've also considered building the base, pivot arms, and handle platform from aluminum. I've been doing some steel welding at the maker space but haven't tried aluminum yet. I picked up some offcuts at the local metal supply over the weekend to play around and practice. I've been trying to take some measurements off the STL files. I'm curious if you could easily upload dimensional drawings of some of the parts for those who might want to try to make one with other fabrication means?

Looking forward to putting this thing together. Thanks for sharing!

[jeruw]

Not a ton of progress here. I've got all the parts in hand and have been sorting out how I'm going to build. The volunteer who took over the 3d printing area is still working on getting the first printer up and running at our maker space. It may be ready to go as of last night so I may be able to start printing parts this weekend.

In the mean time I've been working with the Shapeoko 2 that was donated to the space trying to set it up for milling aluminum. I was able to use netfabb basic to take measurements from the STL files and start drawing some of the parts in Inkscape. Here's a look at what I'd like to cut for the handle platform:

I still have some work to do to get a clean part.

[jeruw]

After picking up a better end mill I was able to get going last night and milled a handle base from 1/4" aluminum plate. Still need to drill the screw holes to mount the handle once it's printed and drill and tap holes to mount the pivot linkages. Working up a drawing for the base plate and hoping to cut it this weekend. I'll likely still print the pivot arm pieces and handle. I haven't figured out an easy way to slot an aluminum rod for the D on the potentiometer shaft and can't use set screws if they'd be covered up with the spring, so I'd need to redesign the part and probably order different springs.

[jeruw]

Finished drawing the baseplate and ran it through makercam. Here's a representation of the cuts from OpenSCAM.

If this all works and fits together I'll upload my SVG files in case anyone else wants to try machining some of the parts instead of printing them. I'll cut the base plate from 1/4" aluminum plate. I've programed in a 1mm depth pocket cut for each of the upright bits. I'll cut those separately and then either weld or bolt them to the base.

[zdayton]

That looks really cool. Do you still need drawings? I will try to upload some to the GitHub soon.

[jeruw]

If it's not too much trouble to add them I'm sure they'd be helpful. I'm assuming the measurements I'm getting from the STL files are reasonably accurate, but if you built this using sketches or some sort of parametric modeling program drawings or original files could be helpful.

One thing I'm considering is modifying the handle to have cut outs for button caps and some sort of frame to mount the switches themselves on to move them inside the handle. Probably more work and complexity than I want to take on but we'll see.

What program do you use to design the parts?

[zdayton]

I added a drawing of the base to the github, will add a drawing of the arm soon.

[jeruw]

Thanks for that. It looks like it's missing measurements for placement of the uprights though? I'll need to look over it again. I cut my base last night and the measurements are looking good compared to what I took from the STL model. I'm redesigning the uprights to have more of "wing" shape. I figured I could get away with that with the aluminum. I'll cut both sides out of 1/4" plate. I was going to weld them to the base but given my relative inexperience tig welding aluminum I think I'll just bolt them down. I'll drill through the base and drill+tap the bottom of the uprights. They'll slot into the slots I cut in the base plate and bolt down. That way I can also eliminate the cut on the right side upright and still be able to mount the pivot arms easily.

I'll post a pic of the base plate later this afternoon.

[zdayton]

Damn you are right I missed those dimensions. Ok I will update it but it sounds like it is too late. This is sounding like it is going to turn out really cool. Thanks for posting progress.

[jeruw]

I hope so. My machining has been a learning experience, but it's been fun. Here are a few shots with the baseplate







I was concerned my measurements were off for the grooves on the baseplate so I called it a night last night before trying to cut the uprights. I've double checked and things look OK so I'm hoping to get back into the shop by Thursday to do some more cutting.

Also attaching a view of one of the uprights. This is the side the pot mounts to.